Labour throws out Livingstone

Ken Livingstone was yesterday expelled from the Labour party after 31 years as a member and 13 as a Labour MP. He was thrown out for standing against the party's official London mayoral candidate the moment nominations closed at noon for the mayoral and Greater London assembly elections.

As Labour's Frank Dobson launched a "Frank and to the point" advertising campaign, and his running mate Trevor Phillips raised the prospect of an "accommodation" between the party and the independent frontrunner if Livingstone won, the former Greater London council leader said he hoped it would only be a "trial separation".

But there was no sign of any let up in the onslaught from Labour's Millbank headquarters, which yesterday launched a renewed attempt to damage Mr Livingstone by highlighting his use of a company, called Localaction, to maximise his income from journalism and public speaking.

The Brent East MP yesterday dismissed claims by Labour sources that he had wrongly used director's loans from the company to buy a holiday home in Brighton.

"This is absolute rubbish and comes from the same people who brought Peter Mandelson back into government after he failed to declare a £373,000 loan," Mr Livingstone said last night. "Perhaps I'll be the next Northern Ireland secretary because of my accountancy skills."

The loans, which were first made public more than five years ago, had either been repaid or converted into a dividend, on advice from his accountant. The Brighton house, bought last summer for £168,000 with his partner Kate Allen, had been financed with the dividend and a £120,000 mortgage.

Mr Livingstone was suspended from the Labour party last month when he said that he would stand against Mr Dobson as an independent, leaving open the possibility that he might nevertheless withdraw at the last minute.

Margaret McDonagh, Labour's general secretary, finalised his excommunication yesterday in a personal letter. "By your actions you have excluded yourself from Labour party membership and you are therefore no longer a member," she wrote.

Mr Livingstone responded by saying he expected to "be back soon". He added: "Once we have had the election and put all of this behind us, the party will want to work together to make sure London government functions properly." He said he hoped to be shown the "same tolerance" as those who had left Labour in the 1980s to join the Social Democratic party and who now worked in Downing Street.

But Labour's spokesman said Mr Livingstone's chances of being allowed back had been "obliterated by this". Simon Fletcher, his political adviser who is also acting as his agent in the mayoral campaign, can now also expect to be expelled from the party, along with others who have signed his nomination papers.

But there are also indications that the party hierarchy is keeping its options open on how to deal with Mr Livingstone as mayor if he wins the contest on 4 May. Mr Phillips, who heads the Labour list for the assembly elections and is standing as Mr Dobson's deputy, said that although Mr Livingstone would face an initially hostile reception from the Labour group, "we would have to work out an accommodation" and that he would "have to work with us".

The full list of mayoral candidates will be announced tomorrow, but is expected to include Mr Livingstone, Mr Dobson, the Tories' Steven Norris, the Liberal Democrat's Susan Kramer, the Greens' Darren Johnson, and Ram Gidoomal of the Christian People's Alliance, Damien Hockney of the UK Independence party and Geoffrey Clements of the Natural Law party.

Malcolm McLaren, former manager of the punk band, Sex Pistols, who had been planning to stand as an independent, announced yesterday he was pulling out of the race in favour of Mr Livingstone.